Sophia Scriptura

To the Romans

Ad Romanos · Ῥωμαίοις

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Contents

  1. 0Ignatius greets the church at Rome with unusual honor.
  2. 1.1Ignatius hopes to reach Rome and the end of his course.
  3. 1.2Ignatius fears the Romans' love might lead them to prevent his martyrdom.
  4. 2.1If the Romans do nothing to save him, Ignatius's death will speak God's word.
  5. 2.2Ignatius asks only to be offered to God, setting like the sun in the west to rise in God.
  6. 3.1The Romans have taught others; Ignatius asks them to be consistent with their teaching.
  7. 3.2Ignatius asks for strength to be a Christian in deed, not only in name.
  8. 3.3Christianity shows its greatness when the world hates it.
  9. 4.1Ignatius begs the Romans not to save him: he is God's wheat, to be ground into Christ's bread.
  10. 4.2Ignatius asks prayer that the beasts may make him a sacrifice to God.
  11. 4.3Unlike the apostles Peter and Paul, Ignatius is a condemned man who will be made free by martyrdom.
  12. 5.1On the journey Ignatius is already “fighting beasts”: his cruel guards.
  13. 5.2Ignatius hopes the beasts will be quick to devour him.
  14. 5.3Ignatius welcomes every torture, if only he may reach Christ.
  15. 6.1Ignatius would rather die for Christ than rule the world; his death will be a birth.
  16. 6.2For Ignatius, martyrdom is true life, and being saved from it would be death.
  17. 6.3Ignatius wants to imitate the suffering of Christ, his God.
  18. 7.1The devil wants to turn Ignatius from God; the Romans must not help him.
  19. 7.2Ignatius's earthly desire is crucified; living water within him calls him to the Father.
  20. 7.3Ignatius longs for the bread of God, Christ's flesh, and the drink of his blood.
  21. 8.1Ignatius asks the Romans to will his martyrdom.
  22. 8.2Christ, the Father's truthful mouth, will confirm Ignatius's words.
  23. 8.3Ignatius asks prayer that he may reach his goal.
  24. 9.1Ignatius asks prayer for his church in Syria, now shepherded by God alone.
  25. 9.2Ignatius counts himself the least of the Syrian Christians.
  26. 9.3Churches along the way welcomed Ignatius and sent people ahead of him.
  27. 10.1Ignatius writes from Smyrna with Ephesian helpers.
  28. 10.2Ignatius asks the Romans to care for Syrians who went ahead of him.
  29. 10.3The letter is dated 24 August.

About this work

Author
Ignatius of Antioch
Attribution
authentic · One of the seven letters of the 'middle recension', accepted as genuine by most scholars since the work of Zahn and Lightfoot. A minority dates them later or doubts their authenticity; longer, interpolated versions and further spurious letters also circulated.
Date
ca. 110 (range ca. 105–135) (disputed) · Traditionally dated to the reign of Trajan (98–117), from Eusebius; some scholars place the letters in the 120s or 130s.
Written at
Smyrna, Asia (western Asia Minor) (probable)
Addressed to
The church at Rome
Language
Greek
Genre
letter
Recension
middle recension (seven letters)
Reference system
chapter.section (Funk's divisions, as printed by Lake)
SBL abbreviation
Ign. Rom.
Clavis
CPG 1025 (unverified)
Text from
Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1, LCL 24 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1912), 172–277 (Printed edition in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)
Critical editions
Michael W. Holmes, The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007); Bart D. Ehrman, The Apostolic Fathers, LCL 24-25 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003) (cited, not reproduced)
CTS URN
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg1443.tlg001